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Published: August 6th 2007
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Trang
Tuk-tuk Thailand seemed like so many different places. Although we spent about the same amount of time there as anywhere else, our time in Thailand had so many facets, that it seemed a lot longer. We started off in a bus ride between Kuala Lumpur and Hat-Yai. We got up early in Chinatown KL and hoped on a excelent bus at the nearby bus station. We were told that the journey would last about 6 hours, giving us plenty of time in Hat-Yai to find another bus to get as far as Trang. However, some miscommunication took place and we arrived Hat-Yai just before sunset, at 6pm. The unexpected rush made us fall right in to a scam which took the form of a 20 dollar van-ride to Trang (it should have costed about 3 dollars).
We were dropped off on the outskirts of the city and for a few moments were scared, for there was no transportation to the city to be found. We walked around for a few minutes before some of the locals helped us find a Tuk-tuk (thai motorcycle transportation) into the city. In the morning we set out to the impossible task of finding a specific
Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple waterfall only using a picture from the internet. No luck, as there were thousands of waterfalls around Trang, and most of the tourist agencies were not operating due to the low season. We quickly decided to waste no more time and found a bus to Krabi before lunch.
We quickly found lodging and friendly help at the Jolly Jumper Guesthouse, where we met Tuk, the nice lady who owned the place. She helped us plan for the next few days, and gave us pointers about getting around in Thailand. We decided not the waste the end of the day, and headed to Tiger Cave temple, by public transport. The nice monks at the base, conviced me to climb the 1400 steps to the top of the mountain and see the big Buddha statue, despite my sore legs that had not yet recovered from the Mt. Kinabalu climb. It was quite strenuous but rewarded by the beautiful view, and nice conversations with the jolly monks. We climbed down only to find that we were the last ones there, and there was no tranportation back to the city. Luckily, we found a japonese family who onwned the last car in the
Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple parking lot, and they were nice enough to give us a ride back to Jolly Jumper. In the evening we enjoyed some pizza and a great concert by a Thai band that played all the rock classics from the 70s and 80s (Creedence, Dire Straits, etc).
In the morning, our friend Tuk had booked a boat ticket to the Ko Phi Phi Islands, trying to ride the good weather from the past few days. We were lucky enough to not get any rain, but the weather was rather gray. The islands were absolutely beautiful, the water was pristine and snorkelling was astonishing. The only disappointment was not being able to dock at the famous Maya Bay (where "The Beach" was filmed), due to rough waves. On-board entertainment came in the form of the young Sigaporean couple. The girl was terrified from the bouncing of the speed-boat, as her boyfriend laughed at her the entire trip. Got to practice my French with the two beautiful Belgian girls I met on the boat, who joined us for a very spicy lunch in Ko Phi Phi Don, the larger island. On the way back, just below the waterline you could see millions
Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple of huge jellyfish all along the way back to the peninsula.
The weather played a trick on us, as we thought it would turn worse and it did just the opposite. We took the trip to the 4 islands in beautiful, sunny weather. Also incredible. To think you can stay in one of these islands for so little money is mind blowing and a temptation (about 6 dollars a night for a beach-side hut). Very very hard to resist settling here permanently. On the trip, we met Jon and Ty, american English teachers who lived in Seoul. We made plans to drink beers at the night market in Krabi, once we got back. My brother Robert, as always, decided to stay in and sleep, as we had plans to leave to Ko Phan-Ngan on the next morning. I, as usual, had bigger plans.
I met up with Jon and Ty at the market where we had about 20 big Singha beers. We decided to search for the famed Flower Karaoke Bar, in vain. Not easy to find such an specific place when you're drunk in SE Asia. We ended up at Crazy club, where we bought a bottle
Krabi
Coca-Cola? of Johnny Walker Black for about 5 dollars (bootleg, you think???). We got wasted, since we were celebrating...uh... something. Somehow we caught a ride to another club in Ao Nang, where my memory from that night ends. The next thing I remember was arriving at Jolly Jumper, but not being able to open the gate. I slept outside for a few hours, until I was awaked by Robert, who was desperately looking for me, as we were late for the bus to Surathany. I quickly gathered my things and we headed off. I later got news the Ty and Jon ended their night with a near Thai boxing with a moto-taxi driver over 20 baht.
The bus ride to Suratthany was another long one. As soon as we got to the port, we experienced a true Asian monsoon. Torrential rain poured on us while we waited for the ferry to Ko Phan-Ngan. We were able to find some more people to split a taxi to Had-Yao, where the Bounty Resort (recommended by an Englishman in Krabi) was. Our late arrival almost left us with no food, but the nice people at Bounty cooked us a nice dinner.
Ko
Krabi
Tiger Cave Temple Phan-Ngan was somewhat of a vacation from vacationing. Our fast paced travelling can be tiring, so we decided to spend a few days here and just relax, eat a lot, enjoy the beach and perhaps some diving. Bounty resort was able to provide us with all of that. The food there was great and the people were nice. We were once again lucky to have such great weather, and enjoyed a great dive at Sail Rock (near Ko Tao). We took an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok.
Arriving in Bangkok was strange, since we hadn't been in a big city in a while. But there is so much to see here that it would be hard to describe it all. We visited the backpacker haven of Khao San Road, the temples (so many temples) and did quite a bit of shopping at the local malls. The Red-Light district was hilarious. There is no telling for sure the gender of some of the people in Bangkok and the constant offer for the "ping-pong show" always got a laugh out of us. On our last night we went to some Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) in the local boxing stadium. We met
Liz (an american, returning home from a season in India) there, and convinced her to join us in searching for some fried bugs to eat. We looked around Khao San and finally found some crickets, slugs and locusts which were surprisingly tasty. By luck, we also found some of the infamous durian, a fruits that stinks so bad that it is sometimes forbidden in public places in SE Asia. And we were finally ready for the long day that would follow, when we were trying to reach Siam Reap, Cambodia.
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